Talk:Watch Out Now/@comment-3575890-20150122081001
Well, it's been a turtle's pace, but I've finally finished season four of Shameless. Where to even begin... *I never understood the appeal of Mickey's character - that is, until now. Holy hell, the development that he underwent this season was nothing short of phenomenal. He grew from this little more than one-dimensional wise-cracking thug into a deeply devoted and loving boyfriend whom would readily come out to his abusive, homophobic father, in the process taking a heartbreaking beating at the likes of which has never before been seen, before risking losing the man he loves, and outside of his relationship with Ian, he has his stand-alone redeeming qualities. He's hilarious as fuck, but beyond that veneer of snark and indifference, he truly does care for those he loves. After this season, he's definitely become one of my favorites, if not is in my top five at this point. Speaking of which.. *It took some convincing, but I've hopped aboard the Gallavich ship. I always liked them in theory - they made sense on paper in the sense that their respective characteristics mesh so beautifully and have the utmost potential to create a healthy balance, BUT they just weren't doing it for me before because I always got the sense that Ian put significantly more work into the relationship than Mickey. Mickey was never able to convince me of his sincerity, but now I take back everything I've said. Mickey clearly loves Ian more than anyone else and seeing him stepping completely outside of his comfort zone for Ian, freely accepting himself because of Ian, refusing to give up on Ian in his time of need instead vowing to take care of him, and in general the loving tenderness so contradictory with Mickey's usual nature that only Ian can bring out of him has more than convinced me of that not only are they good for each other, but the love is there and it is absolutely mutual. Jiona is still my biggest OTP on this show, BUT certainly Gallavich is not far behind after this gamechanger of a season. *I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I really like Sami. As much as I think she's going to do more bad than good in the long run, I completely sympathize with her situation in that she's never had a father before and now that she's found him, will do anything to keep him in her life. Breaking into Sheila's house and stealing all of her furniture was awful and I don't at all blame Sheila for her passive aggressive attempts to edge Sami out because of that, but I totally understand Sami's motive. Truthfully, there's probably nothing I wouldn't do for my father if he needed a liver transplant. So though it's taken me awhile to warm up to the idea of an extra Gallagher being around, I definitely like her now. *Mandy has grown on me again. I will never be okay with what she did to Karen, but she's seemed to have cleaned up her act. Although most of the development she's underwent this season happened offscreen, it's apparent that she's grown a lot. Her piece of shit fiancée has to go though. I HATE that bastard. *Svetlana is insufferable, but I sympathize with her a bit in the sense that she didn't ask for this baby any more than Mickey and certainly had no choice in respect to the conception process either. It's a terrible situation for her and him that caused them both a lot of pain and they're essentially both victims. In the aftermath, shes doing what she can to take responsibility and I respect that. There's also the fact that she's pretty fucking funny. *Vee and Kev's babies are so cute! I cannot wait to see them be parents. *I finally know what "the Liam" situation everyone has been talking about is. Wow. While I certainly can understand the controversial nature of this colossal mistake turning former supporters off from Fiona, I never hated her for it. In fact, I was honestly more disappointed in her when she was banging Robbie behind Mike's back, and even then I didn't fully resent her because I understood the psychology behind her actions, but that CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO CHEAT reflected so much worse on her than an accident that she never intended to happen. Yes, it was a HUGE mistake that could have cost Liam's life, but it was an accident that she hasn't stopped beating herself up over since and after spending the majority of her young adult life caring for her siblings as a parent would their children, she doesn't get a free pass to fuck up, BUT she does get my sympathy and understanding. Especially since the fall out of that one mistake turned her world completely upside down for a long time. Her fall from grace was not pretty, but absolutely understandable and also - inevitable. You can only push yourself so hard before you break. More than anything my heart just bled for her. Now that she seems to be back on the right track, I am confident that she will not be like her father, and will count this second chance at redemption as a blessing to be honoured rather than taken for granted. *Seeing Lip in Fiona's role made me love him a hundred times more than I already did, which before this, I actually did not think was possible. His character development has by far been the best out of anyone else's. He has it together the most and he's just all around so fucking GAME right now. I love it. I love him. MY KING. *Robbie is a piece of shit, but his brother Mike is truly an amazing person. I don't ship him with Fiona, but I really do just love him as a character. How many other guys would bail their ex girlfriend who cheated on them with their brother out of jail for drug possession and child negligence? Such a stand up fellow. *I have to say that the writers really had me going with Frank. I was skeptic that they'd actually be so ballsy as to kill him off, but it wasn't looking good for him for a very long time and that last minute deaus ex machina felt like a cop-out more than anything else. Still, as much as I still very much dislike Frank, although a little less than I did before now that I've seen he does care for his kids deep, deep down, it's hard to imagine this show without him so I am not complaining that he was saved per se - I just think the execution could have been handled a lot better. *Sheila has always been squirrelly, but between her obsession with adopting five children that she barely knows going so far as to marry a dying man to achieve that goal and antagonizing Sami, she's really been off her rocker this season. I love her, but she's become quite unpredictable. *LOVE the last minute curve ball with Ian! I feel it was very realistically implemented when taking into account Ian's genes and age. My ex, who is bipolar, didn't begin exhibiting symptoms until he was 17 either, so the timing of this is perfect. I love the potential that this plot point holds for the development of the Gallagher family dynamic, Gallavich's relationship, and Ian and Mickey's respective character growth. *I am definitely shipping Debbie and Matt now. The age difference still has me skeeved out, but Matt is a good man and the lack of any chance of him taking advantage of Debbie puts me more at ease. He may be too old for her right now, but he fully acknowledges that and refuses to be anything more than a friend to her despite his obviously growing feelings for her. It's a very controversial situation, but there are no factors that account for why underage-adult relationships are illegal in the first place existing within this relationship, so I support it 100 percent. *Unpopular of an opinion as it may be - Bonnie and Carl are really cute, but I do not ship them. Ideally, Carl needs somebody levelheaded and ethical who can balance out his unruly personality and all the while inspire him to try to be better, not exacerbate the very worst in him. Bonnie no doubt brings out a tender, caring side of him much like Ian does with Mickey, but she is way too much like him for this relationship to realistically be able to work out. I love that they can relate to each other and understand each other on the basis of shared positionality and experience, but there is no balance. They are a mini Frank and Monica in the making, whom the will grow to be just like if they stay together. They aren't good for each other; ergo, I can't support it. *PRAISE THE LORD, MY BABY IS ALIVE!